The Scotsman

People. Interview by Amanda Hooton.

Martin Smith

Film-maker

Beneath the title of one of Martin Smith’s films is a quote “You’re a megalomaniac!” it reads. “The Screen’s not big enough for you!”

“My mate said that,” explains the 24-year-old Glaswegian. “I didn’t have any reviews for the show, so we used that for a laugh.”

Such gentle mockery of established etiquette is typical of Smith. His latest project, a 30-minute documentary called Music in Me, began as a result of being “fed up with that ‘talking head; cut to album sleeve; cut to band on stage’ style of documentary. Music is something people feel really passionate about, but I’ve never seen it properly portrayed on screen.”

Smith’s own experience in the music world includes stints as a freelance music photographer and band member. “I have to admit being in a couple of bands on the West Coast,” he says. “we were really hideous ­ we used to slam out covers with all this high-pitched wailing and shouting. I suppose when you’re young it’s just another way of letting loose the terrible beast inside.”

Prior to Music in Me, Smith had worked on a number of films, including Social, screened at this years Drambuie Edinburgh Film Festival, and Do You remember Your FirstŠ?, a prize winner in this years Real to Reel and Q96 film festivals in Glasgow and Kilmarnock. Having divided his time between drama and documentary in the past, he hope to strike a balance between the two in Music in Me. “I don’t want to do a real under-the-fingernails, fly-on-the-wall documentary,: he explains.

“It’s important to maintain the mystique. When I was photographing bands, I’d go backstage and the band members were totally normal, which demystified the whole thing for me. That’s why I stopped doing it. You need to keep a bit of magic about it.”

Music in Me is scheduled to begin shooting at the end of this month, with Smith filming The Chemikal Brothers at Glasgow’s Barrowlands. It will be a welcome return home for Smith, though he professes to enjoy life in Edinburgh, where Independents, the newly established film collective that is producing Music in Me is based. “Edinburgh’s great, but I do get a real buzz out of Glasgow. All the great music venues seem to be there. The Barras, for instance, is an amazing location. Whereas here, my mates went to see Portishead at the Usher Hall a while ago. I mean how exciting is that? A piece of plasterwork might fall on your head, I suppose. That’d be a bit different.”